Ben McKenzie Brings Awareness For The Invisible Children

Last night the Hollyscoop girls were invited to the“Red is for Emmy” benefit for the Invisible Children organization hosted and sponsored by OC star Ben McKenzie at King King in Hollywood. We had learned about this organization a year ago and had written a story about it on our website and felt it was necessary to attend this event since its so dear to our heart. We chatted with Ben McKenzie about the event and he informed us that he learned about the organization just like we did by watching the Invisible Children documentary, which his producer Bill Thompson discovered on Myspace.

The documentary was created by three California natives Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole who took a trip to war torn Uganda in 2003.
The documentary entails stories of how children are abducted from their homes and forced to fight as child soldiers in a violent rebel army. The documentary shows the inspirational stories of the thousands of Americans that have responded to this crisis with action. McKenzie and Thompson were so moved by the stories that they began to plan an event that would raise both awareness and money for the young non-profit organization. The mission of the organization is to provide healthcare, safety, employment and education in Uganda.

It truly was a successful night as over half a million dollars was raised for this great cause. It was great seeing Ben McKenzie’s co-star from the OC, Adam Brody help out as well by taking the stage with his rock band Big Japan. It was pretty cool seeing Adam rocking it on the drums to an audience which included Jeremy Piven who was with Melrose from America’s next top model, Benji and Joel Madden, Pete Wentz from the Fall Out Boy, Jason Ritter, Josh Henderson from Desperate Housewives, Autumn Reeser, Veronica Mars'
Kristen Bell, Ryan Hansen, Jason Dohring, Lost 's Ian Somerhalder, and Entertainment Tonight’s Kevin Frazier. While Yahoo food’s “cheap and easy” chef Brooke Peterson provided the tasty treats for all the guests.(www.food.yahoo.com)

The highlight of the night was when "Emmy" the boy in which the red bracelets were named after made a surprise heartfelt appearance. Emmy flew in straight from Uganda last night and it was interesting learning about his tragic yet inspiring story. This boy is full of life despite the loss of both parents to AIDS. Putting a face to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Emmy’s story is yet another reminder of the consequences of the twenty-year war in Northern Uganda.

Last nights event was by far one of the best and most meaningful events we have attended in Hollywood and we would like to encourage everyone out there to get involved with this organization or any organization that helps make a difference.